Sunday, September 26, 2004

Yummy for the tummy. Smart free for the mind. Think again for our democracy.

Patrons of an upscale Japanese steakhouse, Nakama restaurant on the South Side, can choose whether they favor Heinz or W ketchup.

"As patrons are paying for their meals, they are handed a jelly bean and asked to put in an a jar favoring Heinz ketchup or the jar indicating W ketchup," Nakama owner Becky Gomes said. "On Nov. 1, one day before the actual election, we will accurately predict the winner of the 2004 election."

Think again. This is a sure sign that we need eVote to flourish in Pittsburgh. And, do they even serve french fries in a Japanese steakhouse?

Friday, September 24, 2004

San Francisco, CA - EFF has released the results
of research conducted jointly with the Verified Voting
Foundation and American Families United into the
strengths and weaknesses of the most popular
models of electronic voting machines. Organized into
one-page quick reference guides, this research gives
voters critical information about widely deployed machines,
such as the Diebold Accuvote TS and the ESS iVotronic.
In the guides, EFF takes users through a step-by-step
process for using each model properly and lists
problems people have had with the machines in past
elections. The reference sheets represent one of the
nation's first "Consumer Reports"-style analyses of
several different types of e-voting machines.

"It's extremely important that people vote, despite any
concerns that they have about new voting machines,"
said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "The more
people know about the voting machines they'll be using,
the better prepared they'll be on election day."

It's estimated that one-third of the country will be
using e-voting machines in the upcoming presidential
election.

It's in French, but in summary what happened is a human realised that there was a counting error in the results
By various checks the error was found to originate from one electronic polling booth. The error had allocated exactly 4096 extra votes to a candidate.

Experts inspected the code and found no errors, they re-fed all the data (it was on magnetic medium) and the polling booth reported the correct count. The conclusion of the experts was that a random error had occured which toggled the 13th bit of the count from a 0 to a 1 (allocating 4096 extra votes to the candidate).

I have to admit that I am skeptical of this conclusion myself. In any case CRC checking could be done to prevent such data corruption. Maybe do the count several times and if the same answer is not obtained everytime raise an alarm automatically.

Steve asked for replies

There is no such thing as any island of OS development. By its nature, its open, hence no island tag could stick. It might be quiet, idle, -- but it can't be an island at all.

as instead work with large OS efforts "with legs.

Some like legs, others like the face, others the personality. Some like long-legs, yet my favorite toast is to two-legged women.

If a project has any pair of legs, it has legs. Two people or one person can move mountains.

Western PA is a scholastic football hotbed. All our kids do NOT only need to play football just because that is where the action is.

Governments could contribute back to OS developments (modules, bug fixes, feature additions) with e-democracy technology for example, then you'd have a dynamic engine of development.

I think that is a stretch if it is a prediction. COULD, SHOULD -- but not slam dunk.

There was a lot of buzz after 2000 about electronic vote machines, lots of legs. Gov got into the fray. But, the engine needed a 'distributor' and a 'transmission.'

This would probably help NGOS and companies in this space as well, because as far as I can tell most e-democracy "profits" come from technical assistance and integration of tools not the sale of software itself. (Disagree with me please: clift@publicus.net

Most e-democracy "profits" come while being a waiter, small-business owner who sells ice-cream cones, professor, or candle-stick maker. My quality of life is not like that of Beruit, etc. The profits come from moment to moment opportunities and the calmness of the week, month and years.

It is hard to "capitalize on democracy" -- or "profit on it." We profit from it.

Ta.

Democracies Online Newswire - http://dowire.org

Headlines from top blogs: http://dowire.org/feeds

Also see this amazing table:
http://www.csis.org/tech/OpenSource/0408_ospolicies.pdf

I am interested in what models actually work for sustained OS development in the public sector. Who coordinates? How are project funded?

Without a creative "hub" it is hard for me to see how most governments can justify their involvement/contribution of the code/modules they develop back into an OS effort. Governments should avoid creating islands of OS development as instead work with large OS efforts "with legs." Governments could contribute back to OS
developments (modules, bug fixes, feature additions) with e-democracy
technology for example, then you'd have a dynamic engine of development. This would probably help NGOS and companies in this space as well, because as far as I can tell most e-democracy "profits" come from technical assistance and integration of tools not the sale of software itself. (Disagree with me please:
clift@publicus.net )

Steven Clift
http://dowire.org

Open Source Observatory re-launched

The European Commission's Open Source Observatory (OSO)
http://europa.eu.int/ida/oso/ is a clearinghouse of information
related to free/libre/open source software in the public sector, and
is intended to promote and spread the use of best practices in
Europe. The OSO is part of the EC's IDA (Interchange of Data between
Administrations) programme, and ultimately aims to provide a
comprehensive overview of open source software policies and
activities in the public sector, especially in current and future EU
Member States.

The OSO had been inactive for a short period but has now started up
again and we welcome you to visit the renewed site at:
http://europa.eu.int/ida/oso/

We also invite you to send in news items, announcements for events
and other stories related to open source and of interest to public
administrations. Please e-mail them to: gposs@cec.eu.int.

If you are interested in receiving the monthly Open Source News
Roundup, please subscribe
gposs@cec.eu.int?subject=Subscribe - IDA Open Source News Roundup.

Sunday, September 19, 2004

"Whether or not the machines are ready for the election - or the electorate
ready for the machines - there is no turning back. In what may turn out to
be one of the most scrutinized general elections in the country's history,
nearly one-third of the more than 150 million registered voters in the
United States will be asked to cast their ballots on machines whose
accuracy and security against fraud have yet to be tested on such a grand
scale."

But...

"Concerns over the security and accuracy of the machines have proved harder
to dispel, though, and they have not always come from the fringe.

At the end of June, two prestigious groups - the Brennan Center for Justice
at New York University School of Law and the Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights - issued a set of recommendations for technical upgrades and
procedures that they said could help shore up high-tech voting systems in
time for the November elections."

Friday, September 17, 2004

Officials in Richmond-on-Thames, a United Kingdom local authority just outside London, are letting residents vote online to set priorities on issues that will guide the decision-making agenda of the authority's governing council.

Mobile phone technology could have a greater impact on the workings of democracy than the internet, according to the leading French politician and e-democracy pioneer Andre Santini.

Santini, mayor of the Paris suburb Issy-les-Moulineaux and co-president of the internet, ICT and e-commerce working group of the French Assemblee Nationale, was speaking exclusively to E-Government Bulletin ahead of the fifth Worldwide Forum on e-Democracy (http://fastlink.headstar.com/idem1), to be hosted by his authority on 29-30 September.

"For the past year, current events have provided us with new examples of the impact of new technologies on our daily life, and even more on the democratic process," he said. "From the mobilisation of public opinion in Spain by SMS after the terrorist attacks of 11 March that
challenged the official version of the party in power and led to its defeat in the general elections . . . to the digital photos taken by American soldiers in Iraq and the Howard Dean phenomenon during the American presidential campaign, the impact of technology on democracy has demonstrated its potential."

But most of all, it was the mobile phone that had shaken the world, he said. "The cell phone has conquered the planet in just ten years: more than one person out of five owns this little device today and its functions go far beyond that of the traditional telephone. It is certainly the technology that has undergone the biggest boom in history, with 20 per cent worldwide penetration rate in one decade, far ahead of electricity, stationary telephones, the television and the computer.

"I . . . remember the mobilisation of Spanish public opinion after the terrorist attacks of 11 March in Madrid. How could such a mobilisation have taken place without cell phones? The development of citizen participation by cell phone may even have more of an impact on political life several years down the road than that of internet."

Politicians and public bodies must take note, he said. "The world of politics cannot ignore this new channel of communication with its citizens. Sending an SMS to inform people about a local event, a weather alert or the arrival of an administrative document has become commonplace for the many inhabitants of our modern cities. The use of cell phones to access everyday services, such as paying for parking, is growing."

NOTE: For the full interview see 'E-Democracy Champion with an Iron Constitution.' (link above)
The software, e-Vote, does use email. And email is able to be put into place with cell phones. So, eVote and cell phones can be combined in clever ways.

Even in China, the saying was, the beggars in the city all had cell phones.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Many state and local conflicts over adopting e-voting protocols are causing many to scratch their heads these days. In California a federal judge upheld a decision by the California Secretary of State that decertified touch-screen voting machines. The decision also supported withholding future certification until the systems meet specific security requirements, such as offering voter-verifiable paper audit trails. Based on a suit brought by disability activists, the court found that requiring a paper trail was "rational".

Some E-voting problems in general coverage:
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,92950,00.html

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